This invention relates to a valve arrangement, particularly for spray damping units for printing machines, with at least one valve for controlling a flow of liquid.
In offset printing a damping agent, usually water with additives of alcohol and a number of other fluid substances, is applied to the areas of the printing cylinders where adhesion of the printing ink is to be prevented. Relatively complicated systems with a large number of valves are used to ensure precise control of the supply of damping agent.
Valves are wear parts with relatively high maintenance requirements. A defect in one or more valves may put the printing machine in question out of operation. Furthermore, the valves used are generally of a relatively complicated construction, requiring special tools for disassembly purposes whenever a valve has to be serviced or replaced. All this leads to undesirable downtimes.
A similar situation arises in other cases in which a large number of liquid flows have to be applied on a targeted basis, so that the application of one damping agent, as in this case, is to be understood merely as an example. In the printing industry in particular there are numerous other possible applications, including, for example, the application of printing ink, or of cleaning agents for the printing cylinders, etc.